In light of Governor Tom Corbett‘s slash and grab craziness, this is especially great news: The William Penn Foundation, “approved 37 grants totaling approximately $16 million for a variety of organizations and projects benefiting the Greater Philadelphia region.” The grants include: >>>The Foundation will invest $300,000 in the Philadelphia Schools Project, which seeks to increase [...]

Last year, when we made our little rant about the inherent annoyingness of Kickstarter, we were quick to point out that it all gets a lot less annoying when folks use crowdfunding to do things that directly benefit their communities (as opposed to, say, making more blogrock). It would seem that acclaimed local filmmaker Jamie [...]

Something we’re proud of here at the Philebs is our fine city’s mission to be on the forefront of green energy and technology, and another step has been made in that direction. Two ordinances have been implemented to, “amend the Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code to greatly reduce the costs of securing both electrical [...]

Well, maybe. A just-launched 501c3 called Sink Or Swim Philly seeks to directly aid those among who, in these tough times, go without health insurance, only to be bitten in the ass by that later. (And increasingly, that’s a lot of us; as of 2008, 14.1% of Philadelphians were uninsured, accounting for 1 in 6 [...]

Ryan Howard, who will likely see little to no action this upcoming baseball season, isn’t letting that stop him from helping out Philadelphia. Through The Ryan Howard Family Foundation, Howard is donating $1,152,000 worth of athletic apparel to the School District of Philadelphia. The money donated will allow 57 high schools with athletic programs to, [...]

South Philly (Mattress Flip Front), 2001 (negative); 2003 (print). Zoe Strauss, American, born 1970. Chromogenic print, Image: 6 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches (17.5 x 25.7 cm). Sheet: 8 x 10 3/8 inches (20.3 x 26.4 cm). Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s been known for a while now that internationally acclaimed photographer and [...]

We told you yesterday about a vote that was going to take place on whether or not to allow fracking in the Delaware River Basin. In fact, we even called on Joe Biden (Senator Amtrak to some) to stop the whole thing from going down. Well as it turns out, the vote itself was cancelled [...]

Starting last May, the Mayors Office of Transportation and Utilities began a pilot program to see if a bike lane could work on 13th Street, between South and Hamilton Streets. In a report compiled by MOTU, it was decided, “The data collected during the pilot validates the public and our intuition: vehicle traffic flows well [...]

The horrible tradition that was Whiteween, where the white children in Fairmount had a separate Halloween so not to mix with the minorities, is no more, or at the very least, on its way out. The Two Neighborhoods, One Community campaign being led by Becky Johnson of the Fairmount CDC (along with the Greater Brewerytown [...]

WE’RE #1! WE’RE #1! Please excuse the excitement but this is a pretty cool deal. According to Travel and Leisure Magazine‘s America’s Favorite Cities survey 2011, Philadelphia is the best city in the nation for culture. In addition, Philadelphia was also rated as No. 3 city for “Food, Drink and Restaurants,” #1 for “Sports-Crazed” and [...]

Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia 2011 Contest Opens from Knight Foundation on Vimeo. Like last year’s challenge before it, this year’s Knight Arts Challenge invites you (yes, you) to come up with, “the most innovative ideas in the arts to engage and enrich Philadelphia’s communities.” The contest only has three rules: 1) The idea must be [...]

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the Paine’s Park Project, a group on a mission to put “a beautiful public gathering point on a priceless site that welcomes skateboarding as its primary reason for being” along the Schuylkill down by the Art Museum. Paine’s Park was first conceptualized in 2002 but has had [...]

To say it’s been a long, strange trip for these guys is a wild understatement, indeed: Shane M. Bauer and Elkins Park’s own Joshua F. Fattal (at right) were released on $1M bail and left Iran today, after being imprisoned there since July 2009. By now, you probably know the story: Along with Sarah Shourd, [...]

The best part is knowing that Penn undergrads will never, ever hang out here. Ooh, lookie: The long-promised Penn Park, made out of the urban detritus that was the land located east of the Highline and stretching from Walnut Street to South Streets, is finished! And open! And it’s big! (Get a look at a [...]

We told you back in June that Philadelphia had been named a Code For America partner for the second consecutive year, but now we have some more information on what that will entail. According to a press release, “In 2011, the Code for America fellows conducted on-the-ground research, connecting with neighborhood groups, learning about the [...]

The Nutter and Ramsey Insane Flash Mob Hurricane Panic Dog And Pony Show Posse gave itself a break today to do something that hasn’t happened in a while: Release some truly good news that actually reflects well on the work that both have been doing. Here’s the meat of the 2011 progress report and five-year [...]

We usually reserve the GOOD NEWS title for societal change or cultural intelligence, but we just think this thing is gonna be awesome. Resurrect Dead, a documentary for which West Philadelphia’s Jon Foy won a directing award at Sundance, will be screening at the International House from September 8th to September 12th. The synopsis is [...]

OK, so maybe it’s not exactly what you were thinking as you completed your program of gender studies with a concentration in the works of Lemony Snicket, but hey, at least somewhere around here, there’s some new jobs: The Carlisle and Lewisberry PA Amazon.com fulfillment centers are now hiring hundreds of new workers to help [...]

Mayor Nutter, Clear Channel Radio, Radio One and WURD have launched a new initiative called “iPledge: What are you prepared to do?” iPledge promotes personal responsibility and collective action by encouraging Philadelphians to make personal or community pledges to have a positive impact on the city and encourage societal ownership of problems or concerns. Throughout [...]

About two years ago, Hope Campbell, Ainé Doley, Emaleigh Doley, and bunch of neighbors on W. Rockland Street in Germantown got together and decided that they’d need to take a new tack in combating blight and other problems on their block. Instead of relying solely on the City of Philadelphia and/or a larger neighborhood association [...]